need to buy a 22" lcd widescreen monitor

Apr 18, 2007 at 8:21 PM Post #16 of 29
Quote:

Originally Posted by keanej6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
sweet, thx guys.

that samsung you recommended is looking pretty tempting. now, will my computer be capable of 'running' that monitor? i have 1gb or ram and my video card is 125mb. my processor is AMD's Athlon 64 processor 3200+. i wasn't aware that monitors required much.


I have a 1500 processor from years ago with an Nvidia 4600 graphics card. You don't need a powerful computer to run the Samsung monitor (or any???).
 
Apr 18, 2007 at 8:48 PM Post #17 of 29
You don't need a super computer for an lcd monitor.
Only concern would be whether your videocard has dvi output or not and that's not a requirement (did help in my case). If someone fried their videocard then I highly doubt it was the monitor's fault.

I'm running mine on an Athlon XP 1900+ with 1gig ram and an ATI x700 videocard. Not top of the line by any means. ;p
 
Apr 18, 2007 at 11:35 PM Post #19 of 29
Quote:

Originally Posted by keanej6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
sweet, thx guys.

that samsung you recommended is looking pretty tempting. now, will my computer be capable of 'running' that monitor? i have 1gb or ram and my video card is 125mb. my processor is AMD's Athlon 64 processor 3200+. i wasn't aware that monitors required much.


You computer will run it just fine. The graphics card power only becomes an issue if you are interesting in playing new games at high resolutions and high frame rates. For just running Windows etc, however, you shouldnt have a problem.
 
Apr 19, 2007 at 12:23 AM Post #20 of 29
This has been mentioned but I owned the Samsung 226BW, and I absolutely love it. Not hot or dead pixels and no back light bleeding. Fast response, 2ms.

It do lack height adjustment, and HDMI for its price. But I am not bothered by it.

Before this I almost bought a Sceptre mainly for it having component video input which I has a lot of use for, but half of the people who bought it on newegg complained the dvi died a month or two afterward.
 
Apr 19, 2007 at 3:01 AM Post #21 of 29
Just wanted to post a few thoughts since I've had the Viewsonic 22" VG2230WM set up for a whole 25 hours. As I said, beautiful panel. I haven't even tried watching a movie, so I can't comment there yet.

A couple of detractions / distractions. One: it is not fully black as advertised and how it looked in pictures (maybe I didn't look hard enough). I bought this one specifically because it was flat black and I hate glare of any kind. Piano black looks awesome, but the glare... Anyhow, it is mostly black with a recessed silver frame. I find it a little distracting. I don't really mind silver monitors by themselves (have an LCD at work), but the silver border/frame stands out from the black and IMO is distracting. Second, this silver kind of swoops back towards the rear of the monitor on top. If looking slightly up at it, it looks like a downward sloping curve. Super annoying in the limited time I've had with it. The screen is so sharp and straight, and yet this curving line gives the illusion that the lines on the screen are also curved. Really poor design choice. If the monitor is lowered so that your eyes are level with the top part of the silver border, it's not an issue, but then you're looking down at the screen. Also, doesn't silver and black together look kind of stupid? Isn't that why we try so hard to match our components? I might well be returning this sucker.
 
Apr 19, 2007 at 3:47 AM Post #22 of 29
I'd like to put in a quick word for the Benq FP222W(H)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824014139

It's a beautiful screen. I read the reviews for the FP222W and they were excellent. I bought the FP222WH because it's the same, except with the addition of HDMI (I have my PC on the DVI port and a Samsung upscaling DVDP on the HDMI and movies look GORGEOUS). $300 is a good deal for such a panel, and I've been really happy with mine. I went from a Diamondtron 22" CRT, which was one hell of a monitor, so I expected to sacrifice some visual quality in order to go from 65 pounds to 15 pounds. I was pleasantly surprised to find the picture just as nice.

However, IMHO, widescreen is overrated. If they made this panel in a 22" 4:3 monitor, I would be on it. It's not so much that the widescreen format is bad (it's actually kinda cool, and I like it), it's that most webpages and such are designed for really small monitors. For example, as I'm typing this post, my message box is taking up about 10% of my screen real estate.

Of course, you also run into that problem with really high resolution CRTs (QVGA/2048x1536 on my 22" meant that webpages designed for VGA/640x480 were like the size of banner ads in the corner.), but those don't have so much of a problem running nice at a lower resolution.

LCDs, OTOH, are best at their native resolution. It's not that the text is small, or anything like that, it's just that I get a feeling like I'm not using this thing to it's full potential. Like having really high end amp and cans hooked up to $20 wal-mart MP3 player with poorly recorded 64kbps MP3s. It will sound better than stock earbuds, but you're not getting the most out of it.

Also, old games are kinda a hassle. I couldn't get either Starcraft or Age of Empires 2 to run at 1680x1050. However, I think I will try it with Warcraft III when I get some downtime.

But, I'm sure that as they become more prevalent, more content will be available in widescreen high-res formats, and the monitors are really nice and really inexpensive, even compared to just a year ago.
 
Apr 19, 2007 at 4:36 AM Post #23 of 29
LG is the better of the ones out right now,Nec has one coming soon.
 
Apr 19, 2007 at 4:52 AM Post #24 of 29
Ive been using a Gateway 22". I love it. Got both my xbox 360 and PC hooked up. easy to switch between the two. its got PIP so i can play 360 and do stuff on my pc at the same time. The picture quality is great for both the PC and the 360. The black and blue LED's fits my other equipment great. Its also got good picture scaling options.
 
Apr 19, 2007 at 5:00 AM Post #25 of 29
I highly recommend checking out the LCD Buyer's Guide thread on Anandtech's forums. Very informative reading.

I just bought a brand new 21" widescreen LCD last week. After doing extensive research, I decided on the Samsung 215TW for its excellent color reproduction and ergonomic features.

The kind of LCD you buy should really depend on what you will be mostly using the computer for as different panel types have different pros and cons. I'm a Web developer, so I needed the accurate color reproduction of the Samsung's S-PVA panel and true 8-bit color. Response time is relatively inconsequential to me since I don't game. If you're a big gamer, then you're better off going with a TN panel.

Hope this helps.
 
Apr 22, 2007 at 6:39 PM Post #28 of 29
Let me say that I'm a perfectionist, and when I buy stuff, I alwasy try to maximize the benefits I get and while I was searching for an LCD TV, I couldnt get one coz they were all flawed and I decided to pick up a Monitor instead. I bought the BenQ FP241W after some very serious research, physically going to store to examine each and every one of them, and reading onlien review as well. I can't tell you how happy I am now than I was when I had a 42" 1080p westinghouse. So if you want a 22incher, I'd second taylor's suggestion, SP222W(H). I'm not sure about the 222W, but the 241 comes with an 8 bit panel, and it makes a day and night difference compared to those cheaper stuff. There are alot of things one should consider when getting a monitor nowadays, namely vertical/color banding, and backlight bleeding. I personally would not put my hands on ANY samsung/LG monitors. You may say that I'm generalizing, but every single samsung that i've seen, from 205BW to 22XBW, have backlight bleeding problem. So do pick your monitor properly...it aint an easy task unless you are not half as picky as I am lol
 
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